‘Target Jordan’ says al-Qaeda agent
Posthumous video by suicide bomber details spy agency’s collaboration with US.
He is thought ot have gone there under the pretext that he would reveal information on Ayman al-Zawahri, al-Qaeda’s second in command.
‘Gift from Allah’
Al-Balawi said he only expected to kill his Jordanian handler, Ali bin Zaid, but the addition of the CIA members would be a bonus.
“We planned for something but got a bigger gift, a gift from Allah, who brought us, through His accompaniment, a valuable prey: Americans, and from the CIA.
“That’s when I became certain that the best way to teach Jordanian intelligence and the CIA a lesson is with the martyrdom belt,” he said.
In the video al-Balawi appears in military fatigues cradling an assault rifle and what appears to be C4 explosives.
The suicide blast at the CIA facility caused one of the worst ever losses for the spy agency and put the focus on the co-operation between the American and Jordanian intelligence services.
Jordan accused
In the video, al-Balawi also accused Jordan of providing information for the killing of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, an al-Qaeda leader in Iraq, in 2006 as well as that of Imad Mughniyeh, the Hezbollah commander who died in a car bomb in Damascus in 2008.
“The Jordanian intelligence apparatus has a record which emboldens them to such behavior, but with Allah’s permission, after this operation, they will never stand on their feet again,” he said.
Al-Balawi, a doctor, hailed from the same hometown of Zarqa as al-Zarqawi and was a prolific contributor to jihadist websites.
But he was never able to realise his dream of joining the jihad until he was arrested by Jordanian security.